DON’T TRUST TECHNOLOGY

The second of Bordowitz’s “Nine Operative Assumptions” speaks to me the most clearly: “Don’t trust technology.” “Did you have a hand in its development?” Bordowitz writes. “Is it in your interests?” Rarely is this the case, especially for marginalized groups dealing with mainstream media. The first few pages of Bordowitz’s piece focuses on this idea, especially focused around the AIDS crisis.

But I believe this idea expands to our project on Silicon Valley, if not everything else. “Technology” does not explicitly mean “television” in the wider context, or else Bordowitz would have typed “television.” No, “technology” becomes all media we consume, and even how we consume it. To think that your laptop is not as tied into the media you watch as the media you’re watching is a dangerous mindset; why else would we watch movies in theaters? As McLuhan said, “The Medium is the Message,” and the medium of consumption plays just as much of a role as the media of broadcast.